KANNUR l wednesday l march 25, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l city EDITION SIGNED and SEALED: IPL teams RR and RCB sold for huge amounts After months of negotiations, defending champions and inaugural winners will have new owners post IPL. Deal subject to BCCI approval RR for over L15,200 cr, RCB for L16,700 cr faces behind the two consortiums If both the deals are cleared, the owners are expected to take charge post the 19th edition of the league. While RR was bagged for $1.63bn, RCB was purchased for just over $1.78bn. While the former was picked by a consortium fronted by US-based entrepreneur, Kal Somani, the latter was fronted by a consortium led by Aditya Birla Group ■ ■ Both franchises are bringing in new owners who have a track record of owning sports properties in other leagues. In fact, Somani, has been an investor with Royals since 2021 Teams are attractive to US-based individuals and companies because of closed-door league, TV rights deal and potential for growth | P13 $67mn, $111mn RR was picked for $67mn while RCB was signed for $111mn before 1st ipl CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI PM: LEAST POSSIBLE IMPACT ON India TrUMP likes Pak’s mediation offer The PM underlined efforts to reduce dependence on a single source of energy. “The crisis has shaken the global economy. Continuous efforts are being made to ensure that India suffers the least possible impact” US President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Pakistan’s offer to be the host to facilitate talks to end the West Asia conflict by re-sharing Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif’s post on the Truth Social platform Don dials Modi on de-escalation They discuss the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz secure and accessible to all j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on the urgent need to de-escalate tensions in West Asia and keeping the critical global shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz open, safe and accessible for the whole world. “Received a call from President Trump and had a useful exchange of views on the situation in West Asia. India supports de-escaladay tion and restoration of peace at the earliest. Ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, secure and accessible is essential for the whole world. We agreed to stay in touch regarding efforts towards peace and stability,” Modi wrote on X. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, too, highlighted the maritime safety aspect, saying “President Donald Trump just spoke with Prime Minister Modi. They 25 discussed the ongoing situation in the Middle East, including the importance of keeping the Strait open.” The conversation is the first between Modi and Trump since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28. It comes amid rising tensions and shar ply rising energ y prices. On Monday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had held conversation with US counterpart Marco Rubio. Washington has signalled cautious diplomatic engagement with Tehran. It has emerged that the US has engaged Pakistan, Egypt and Turkiye in back-channel for looking at solutions for ending the war with Iran. India has also engaged directly with regional leaders. Modi spoke over the weekend with I r a n’s P r e s i d e n t M a s o u d Pezeshkian. Shortly after his call with Trump, Modi spoke to Sri Serious consequences if crisis continues, says PM Amid a deepening global energy crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed the Rajya Sabha and said prolonged instability could lead to unavoidable and serious consequences. “If the global circumstances created by this war persist for a long time, serious consequences are inevitable. Therefore, India is accelerating the resilience-building measures it has undertaken in recent years,” he said. “During the great crisis of the pandemic, the Centre and the states together presented an excellent model of COVID management. We must continue to work in the same spirit”, he asserted Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake about energy crisis. The leaders discussed the rapidly evolving situation in West Asia and its impact on global energy supplies and regional stability . With tension escalating in West Asia region, they stressed the imperative of close collaboration to safeguard energy interests and strengthen security ties in South Asia. Re slumps 23 paise, hits new low The rupee on Tuesday dropped 23 paise to close at 93.76 against the US dollar as a stronger greenback, elevated global crude prices, and FPI outflows weighed on the local currency Scheduled Caste status limited to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist faiths: SC Relief for jacobite church U D AYAN K ISHOR E @ New Delhi E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that only individuals belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist faiths can be considered members of a Scheduled Caste (SC), and conversion to any other faith will result in the person losing the SC status. “No person who professes a religion other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist shall be a member of Scheduled Caste. Conversion to any other religion results in immediate and complete loss of the Scheduled Caste status,” the court said, while upholding an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. A bench of justices P K Mishra and Manmohan passed the order on an appeal filed by Pastor Chinthada Anand, who alleged that he faced caste discrimination from one Akkala Ramireddy and others. Anand filed a complaint against Ramireddy under the SC/ST Act and the police lodged an FIR. Ramireddy then approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The HC quashed the FIR on the ground that Anand had lost his ccheduled caste status upon conversion to Christianity and, therefore, cannot claim protection under the SC/ST The long road back The Supreme Court said to reclaim the Scheduled Caste (SC) status, a person must prove they were originally born into a caste listed as SC, before they adopted other faith, give evidence of reconversion, show they have renounced the other faith they had adopted, and demonstrate their original caste community has accepted their reconversion Act. It had held that Anand holding an SC certificate will not help his case since conversion to Christianity where caste , distinctions do not exist, nullifies the scheduled caste status. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court order. “We have no hesitation in holding that the appellant (Anand), having ceased to be a member of the Madiga community upon his conversion to Christianity and , having failed to establish any subsequent reconversion, does not satisfy the mandatory Constitutional requirement for claiming the status of Scheduled Caste,” the bench ruled. HC sets aside order to take possession of 6 churches in dispute In a relief for the Jacobite Church, a division bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday set aside a single judge’s order directing the district collectors of Ernakulam and Palakkad to take possession of six churches caught in the ongoing dispute between the Orthodox and Jacobite factions. These churches are currently under the possession of the Jacobite Church. The bench observed that no court has the power to order the takeover of physical possession of religious institutions in disputes between denominational factions. The single judge had on August 30, 2024, directed the Ernakulam collector to take possession of St Mary’s Orthodox Church, Odakkali; St John’s Besphage Orthodox Syrian Church, Pulinthanam, and St Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church, Mazhuvannoor. The court had also directed the Palakkad collector to take possession of St Mary’s Church, Mangalam Dam; St Thomas Syrian Church, Erickinchira; and St Thomas Syrian Church, Cherukunnam. The division bench comprising Justice Anil K Narendran and Justice Muralee Krishna S issued the order while allowing a batch of appeals filed by the state government and the Jacobite faction challenging the single judge’s order. The single judge’s order was issued on a contempt petition filed by the Orthodox Church. Subsequently, the state filed an appeal before the Supreme Court, stating that the HC’s directive to the district collectors to take possession of the churches was beyond its contempt juris● More on P6 diction.  after 13 yrs in coma Harish departs days after euthanasia order Express news service @ New Delhi Harish Rana, the first person in India to be granted permission for passive euthanasia in a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court earlier this month, died on Tuesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), days after his nutritional support was withdrawn. “Harish Rana passed away at 4.10 pm on March 24 at AIIMS, Delhi,” the hospital said. The Supreme Court had permitted passive euthanasia for Harish on March 11. He was moved to the palliative care unit of AIIMS’s Dr B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital on March 14. Subsequently, Harish’s nutritional support was gradually withdrawn. A specialised medical team headed by Dr Seema Mishra was constituted to implement the process. The 31-year-old Harish had been in a coma for over 13 years after falling from the fourth floor of a building in 2013. Harish’s family expressed hope that the court’s decision could help others facing similar situations. Private sector growth slips to 3.5-yr low as war impacts demand E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai Private sector business activities, as measured by HSBC Flash India PMI Composite Output, fell to a threeand-a-half-year low in March amid a drastic drop in demand and a spike in costs due to the ongoing West Asia conflict. The index slipped to 56.5 in March, marking the weakest growth since October 2022. The composite PMI was 58.9 in February . HSBC attributed the poor show to the West Asia conflict, weaker domestic demand, market instability and in, flationary pressures. “Output growth eased across both manufacturing and services as the energy shock unfolds. Softer domestic demand weighed on new orders, which rose at the slowest pace in over three years, despite a record surge in new export orders. Cost pressures intensified, but firms are absorbing part of the increase by squeezing margins,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief economist at HSBC India. The slowdown was more pronounced in the manufacturing sector, where output growth eased amid global uncertainties. Factory output expanded at its slowest pace since August 2021. The manufacturing PMI dropped to 53.8 in March from 56.9 in February, a four-and-a-half-year low, while the manufacturing output index fell to 55.1. E X P RESS REA D IAF launches heli-dropped drone project New Delhi: With warfare moving beyond visual range, drones taking centre stage and helicopter survivability under scrutiny, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has set in motion ‘Vayu Baan’, its first helicopter-dropped drone project, it is learnt. The move is part of a broader push to strengthen indigenous capabilities in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) warfare technologies. P9 UCC Bill tabled in Gujarat assembly Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Tuesday introduced the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026, in the legislative assembly, proposing a common legal framework to regulate marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships across different religions. CM Bhupendra Patel introduced the bill, triggering a political and constitutional debate over equality, timing, and intent ahead of polls. P10